This disclosure relates to messaging systems, and more particularly to maintaining communication continuity in messaging systems.
Communications systems, such as email and instant messaging, are considered to be mission critical by many corporations. That is, the use and availability of such communications systems are deemed to be essential for the effective operation of the company. Given the importance of these mission critical systems, companies often devote significant resources to developing and implementing various plans, protections, and measures to ensure that the important communications systems remain up and running, with the goal being 100% (i.e., continuous) up time and availability of services.
For example, often redundant servers may be used for a given communication system, such as email. In the event of a failure in one server, the redundant server may be employed to ensure and maintain the availability of the email system. Additionally, the redundant servers may be geographically distributed. In the event of a power failure, such as a city-wide power failure, while one server may be affected, the geographically distributed servers may continue to operate. The unaffected email servers may assume the responsibility of maintaining email communications for the company until the power failure is overcome.
Further, separate servers may be used for different communications systems. An email system may be deployed on a first server, while an instant messaging system may be deployed on a second server. In the event of a failure of one server, such as an email server, the instant messaging server may continue to operate. The hope is that, even though email communications may be interrupted as a result of the failure of the email system, at least instant messaging communications may remain available.
While the various protections and measures implemented to ensure continuous operation of mission critical systems may be largely effective, failures and losses still occur. Additionally, even though alternative communication systems may be available (e.g., instant messaging may be used in the event of an email failure), the alternative systems may be less desirable. The ability to utilize alternative communications systems in the event of a failure in one communication system requires the availability of the alternative system, and an awareness by each party to the communication that one of the communication systems has failed.